According to Plan
by janiejanine
Summary: During a routine mission, Shepard and Garrus find themselves in an uncomfortable situation...but every accident has a bright side.


Shepard scanned the area with her omni-tool, extending its range as far as it would go.

"Looks like we're clear," she said. "No more geth signatures."

They'd made a stop on this backwater colony on a tip from Admiral Hackett, and it was a good thing they had. The inhabitants had come through the attack with minimal casualties, even if the place was now pockmarked with debris and little craters.

The brunt of it had been borne by the center of the colony's main street: a construction site, from the look of it. The biggest building was half-finished, and the surrounding area was covered in materials and tarps.

She moved down the street in familiar formation, Wrex to her right, Garrus to her left, both two steps behind. It was getting hard to see as twilight dimmed the sky, but her omni-tool would tell her if there were enemies in the vicinity. She stepped from the sidewalk to the pavement with perfect confidence.

The ground that should have been there wasn't. Horrified, she felt herself falling.

She landed a few feet down with a wet thump. A second later, a similar, squishier noise sounded to her side. In the second between taking the step and plunging down, she'd grasped blindly for the object nearest to hand, which had turned out to be Garrus's arm. He'd taken the plunge with her.

"Sorry!" she said as she fought to get her breath back. She reached out blindly, feeling her way in front of her. Her hand hit a ridge of stone, slipped, and before she knew it she was submerged to the shoulder in foul-smelling muck, narrowly missing smacking her face on the floor.

Finally, she was able to hit the light on her omni-tool so she could stand up and take a look around. The pit they'd fallen into was small, with bare, smooth walls. It looked like it had once been the beginning of a tunnel, but the openings to either side were blocked with falls of rocks and dirt. Under her feet was a layer of brown sludge, several inches thick. It smelled kind of like...

Oh, no.

"Is this a _sewer?_" she groaned.

"Looks like," said Garrus. He was examining the clumps of filth that covered his rifle with a pained expression.

Shepard tapped her comm. "Joker? Do you copy?"

Joker's voice fought through the static. The earpiece had taken some damage when she hit the ground, she noted. Figured. "Getting some interference," he said. "Where are you?"

"We're stuck underground. There's a hole in the street by the new building. Wrex is there. Can you read my signal?"

"Yep. Sending a team out now."

Now that their rescue was coming, Shepard allowed herself to vent her frustration. "What the hell kind of colony is this? Who just leaves a giant hole in the street?"

"They were doing construction work. Maybe you noticed the big machines and piles of steel beams," Joker pointed out, with minimal sarcasm. She had to admire him for holding back when he had such good material right in front of him.

"Shouldn't there be some cones or something? A sign?"

"I don't think the geth really give a shit about cones. Give me a minute, I'll get you an ETA."

Shepard grunted. She tapped her fingers impatiently until her comm pinged.

"Hey, Commander. It's gonna be a while before we can get you out. That tunnel's collapsed pretty good," Joker said.

"Great."

She got as comfortable as she could amidst the piles of sludge and tried not to think about what she was sitting in and how she'd gotten there.

It was some time before she spoke again. "If you tell anyone about this, I'll have your head, Vakarian."

Garrus held up his hands in a _no worries_ gesture. "I'm not the one you have to worry about. You think Wrex is going to follow that order?"

"He will if he doesn't want me to turn his quad into a duo."

Wrex's head appeared over the top of the hole. "You're bluffing."

"I will _eat_ you."

Wrex growled, "You wouldn't dare." He retreated pretty fast, though, Shepard noted with some satisfaction.

Today was definitely not her best day. On the other hand, she was in a small, enclosed space with Garrus, and that wasn't so bad.

In the short time she'd known him, he'd become a reassuring, steady presence at her side. They could read each other perfectly, even in the chaos of a firefight, and she couldn't imagine him not being there, on her left, two steps behind.

She'd never really been into aliens before, but then, most aliens didn't have stealthy senses of humor and infallible aim and voices that made her toes tingle. Sometimes she wondered if she had a similar effect on him. He'd never given any indication of it, but then, neither had she.

She'd give it a little more time. A few more days, a couple more missions, just to figure things out. They were going to Virmire next, and that shouldn't take too long. It could wait until then.

In the meantime, they might have to get a little closer, to avoid the worst of the mess. Just in case.


End file.
